Q4 shipments show Nokia and Apple on the up

IDC figures for the number of UK shipped devices for the fourth quarter have shown that both Apple and Nokia were up nearly 40% on last year. Total shipments for the UK were up 8.8%, with 9.7 million units in the quarter.

Samsung dropped behind Apple, with the number of UK shipments for the quarter dropping from 38.2% to 29.1% market share year-on-year – a decrease of 17.2%.

Sony’s shipments for the quarter were largely flat, with the Japanese manufacturer bringing one million units to the UK for the period. LG also remained flat for the period, shipping 400,000 phones to the UK.

IDC’s figures for Western Europe showed that the market failed to grow in 2014 for the second year running. Total shipments were down 5.2% year-on-year to 174.1 million units, according to the research firm’s European Mobile Phone Tracker.

Francisco Jeronimo, research director, European Mobile Devices, IDC EMEA, said: ‘Although the total market was impacted by higher penetration rates, the smartphone segment hit a record high in 2014 in terms of units shipped and market value. Seven out of 10 people in Western Europe now have a smartphone. The success of the new iPhones 6 and 6 Plus, the increasing popularity of phablets and the explosion of devices priced under $150 were the biggest contributors to this growth.

‘Last year we saw 28 new brands entering the European market. Their main focus is on low-end and affordable smartphones. This has eased the transition from feature phones to smartphones for those consumers who were unconvinced by the real value of a smart device. We continue to see a strong momentum around the new brands that entered the market in the past two years, which combined already represent 6.4% of the total smartphone market.’